Just wanted to encourage those of you
looking for info on your relatives born in IT. I kept
searching and finally the SWOGS was able to locate where my
gr-grandfather obtained land in OK and subsequently where my
grandfather was born in 1890.

This has been a mystery to our family
for many years & no one bothered to pursue looking for
it. I was just excited to find the exact plot that my
gr-grandfather acquired in the Land Rush just outside of what is
now Edmond. I'm now awaiting the papers on my
gr-grandfather's land.

I just wish I had been aware of this
& known what to ask of my grandfather when he was
living. He died when I was 12, so I wasn't up on any of
this!!

Sharon, the
information you sent was very valuable in my research of the Yorkfamily. I want you to know that I
appreciate your help very much. Idon't know what we researchers would do
without Lookup Volunteers suchas
yourself.

Thanks again,Billy Hightower424 CR 609Farmersville, Texas 75442

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sharon, I just wanted
to thank you for posting some of my Obits. As a result, asecond cousin in California saw the
Obits and recognized the names ofher great grandfather and others and went to
my home page where shefound
pictures of several kinfolks. Her grandmother, 91 years old, whotook care of my great grandmother till
she died, enjoyed looking at myhome
page. Her grandmother is a sister-in-law to my grandfather who
diedin 1934. We are in the
process of exchanging pictures and stories.

Sharon, just wanted to
let you know that through placing some of our familyobits on your page I have been contacted by a
fellow who said byaccident
he visited the site and to his surprise not only did he knowsome of the people listed but that he
was related to some of them. Thanks to your Greer County obit page he
contacted me. We are going tohave a SMITH get-together the last of May in
Mangum and he and his wifeplan
to attend. Thanks for your help.

Wanda Nash Good

Success StoryEddie Mills Dugger <Eddie1943@aol.com>I would like to say Thank You Ok Gen Web! And a big
Thank You to Pat Smith,Latimer County, Okla.
Through the help of Okla Gen Web and Latimer County Ihave
been reunited with my Cameron cousins. Almost exactly two
years ago Ibegan a search for my Cameron cousins, who I
only knew existed from hearing mymother talk about her
cousin Jack Cameron who was one year older than she.

Many times when I was growing up I overheard
her talking to my dad about howshe wished she could find
them, as time went on she stopped saying anythingabout
it, then about 4 years before she died, she had developed
alzheimers andbegan talking about her childhood and her
cousins that she had not seen in 60years. We lost
my mom on Christmas Day eight years ago and I made a vow thatI would find her Camerons, and with the help of Okla Gen Web I
did just that,actually they were hunting my family as
well.

The thing that is so specialabout
this is that 3 months after I began my search I received an email
fromBill Cameron, whose father was my mothers first
cousin, his email said are youmy cousin? His father
was also deceased by this time, but we talked on thephone
and both cried and laughed, then we both called all our siblings
and wehad a mini family reunion shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately our rejoicingwas
short lived as Bill was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer this
pastNovember and we lost him Jan 11 th this year.
But our families have formedclose ties now, and exchanged
family stories, pictures and have been making upfor all
those lost years. We are now working together to find our
Cameronancestors, so the search goes on, and Ok Gen Web
made it happen for us. ThankYou!

Recently I put a query on your
board aboutButler and Mayden. I wanted totell you what wonderful people you have in your Jefferson
County area. Ihave a friend who was given up for adoption
at birth, and she's now 49 yearsold. Her doctor had given
her, in later years, her information, off theoriginal
birth record, which led us to your county. Now, less than a weeklater, she has located all of her mother's family line
(unfortunately, hermother passed away in 1996).

But, if possible I would like you to know
howspecial two people are, in your area, who helped make
my friend's dream cometrue. They are Lucille Moore, who
manages the Senior Citizen Center inWaurika. At 84, she
went to newspaper office, and found an obit on Cora MaeMayden,
and asked around, and found people who knew her. The other
person, isher daughter Jean Murphy, who answered my
query, and got in contact with hermother, to help.

These are two of the most wonderful people
you would everwant to find.I can't thank them enough!
Also, wanted to let others know, notto give up hope, that
in less than a week, Jean and Lucille, helped make oursearch
complete, so, keep on searching. As my friend Cathy said,
"They're myAngels here on Earth."

Again, I'd like to thank you for a wonderful
Web Site, and pass the word around what fantastic women Lucille
and Jean are.

I would like to say a BIG Thank you to Ruth
Atteberry Adams - Atoka County,Oklahoma. For three
years I was trying to find double cousins of mine andRuth
was the biggest help ever. When I started my research I
only knew thefathers name, Favors. Someone had said
he had a daughter named Phyllis. Ruthhelped me
locate all three of them who happen to be now Phyllis Jensen,
SandraBanker and Donna Mulkey.

I contacted them and they were as glad
to find meas I was them. They came to Rogersville,
Alabama on August 23 this year tothe Favors Family
reunion. They were amazed they had so many relatives theynever knew . We had the biggest time and will always
keep in touch. I wouldlike to say I have really
enjoyed looking at the Atoka county webpage and thecontinuous
updates Ruth does on this page. I cannot thank Ruth enough
for allher help.

Joy Favors

my long overdue success
story....Sandra Campbell <sooner62@the-link.net> Dear everyone reading this at success stories. I
have promised Marti fromOKGenWeb to submit this success
story. I have been so busy with my newfound family
and work and praising the Lord above but now on to helpingothers
even if it just means a letter like this to give hope to those
stilllooking. I first want to thank everyone at
roots-web and Ok-Gen for theirconstant words of support
and all the boosts to keep me going.

Specialthanks to Marti, Dian,
yeloribbon, Thomas Knox, Greg McMurry and especiallyGlenn
McMurry who, after helping me find my family, happened to be
relatedto me after all and provided one of the most
extensive "McMurry" family treeweb sites I will
ever see. I am so glad that my family hooked into itfinally.

You are all people that I will never forget
among all the otherswho answered the 100's of emails even
if it was to let me know they were notthe ones I was
looking for.

To begin with, I decided to search for a
half brother Mike McMurry whom Iknew existed and was by
my Dad's first wife. All I had was the fact that myDad
died at his sister Mary's house in Ft Worth TX and to find Mike I
wouldprobably need to find this sister or her
family. I knew my Dad died at herhome in Ft Worth
in 1967 and was buried at a cemetery with one or all of thewords consisting
of "blue and bonnet."

I searched the web daily andstarted
my search somewhere around May or June. In the
meantime. I soughtout all McMurrys' across the U.S. that
had emails and started writing astandard, cut and paste,
letter to them basically asking that if they wererelated
to me to please contact me by email. I of course included enoughinfo but no more than would let the right person reading know
he had theright sister.

I knew also that he knew about me and my,
(his), other twosisters by our Dad. Anyway,
after several attempts to find blue bonnetcemetery and
the help of a fellow searcher, was able to find my Dad at theSS death index but had no luck finding blue bonnet
cemetery. After somebrainstorming with yeloribbon I
went out to my storage shed and found someold
phone/address files of my late Mom's that I had packed and
surprisinglysaved all these years since her death.

On the page of "M"s was someMcMurrys
in TX and Ariz., one was to a Bob McMurry in Hurst TX. Back
on thenet I looked up the physical address of this Bob
and after a couple ofzoomings in and out of the address
was amazed to find three blocks away, astreet called
"Blue Bonnet Drive" !!! I immediately
searched for thecemetery with this name in Hurst TX and
suddenly popped up with "Blue BonnetHills
Cemetery" / Funeral Home" in Colleyville
TX. Right outside ofHurst!!!!! Now at two in
the morning and armed with phone and address forwhat I
was sure my Father's last resting place, I tried to sleep.....

Finally the next day came and I called this
Cemetery and was elated andsaddened both to find that Bob
McMurry a would be uncle, had died and wasinterred there
and was my Dad . The lady could not have been more helpfulonce
finding out my plight. She offered as much info as she could pull
offher screen and my pen could not write detail fast
enough.

She finally toldme that Mary, listed
as my Dad's sister had a last name of Bauers and thateither
she or her husband Byron had just as of Father's day been
interredthere. Now with as much as I could get from
her and her promise to call meback as soon as she could
find out the protocol of sending info torelatives, I
raced to the net to look up Byron and Mary's name. There poppedup the only ones listed for FTWorth.

I called and left a message on amachine
and after about three days of phone tag with the daughter of Mary
wetalked on a Sunday about a month and a half ago.
I asked her if she had anuncle named Jesse N. and she
said yes. YES!!! If I did not find anyoneelse, it
would not have mattered at that point and my face was breaking
fromthe grin it bore. We talked for hours and
through her was given the infothat I had had five aunts
and uncles from my Dad's siblings.

All goneexcept the youngest
twins, Mary, her Mom, and Margaret. Her Mom hadrecently been put in a rest home and they had been cleaning
out her housewondering what had ever happened to us girls
who they felt should get aportion of Dad's things.
After talking to my new found Cousin, who willalways be
the special first, I called and talked to my Aunt, Margaret
andfound out tons more of info on my Dad's side of the
family. She put me intouch with another cousin who
also had been looking for Mike, my brother.

Now with both of us looking, we were sure to
complete the circle orthe outside of the puzzle. So
in between getting to know these new familymembers and
letting my mind take hold and receiving packages from them ofmemorabilia that was so priceless and just like Christmas in
July Icont. to send emails. I knew Mike was in the
military and must be about 50something and unless he had
family that might have email it was like lookingfor a
"McMurry" in a Irish haystack.

One Friday on Aug.14th, my otheroldest
brothers birthday by the way, I was sitting here as I had many
timesbefore culling through my email and the McMurry
rejects I call them. Thenhalf reading half watching T.V.
I opened one from a John McMurry whichread:

YOU HAVE FINALLY REACHED JOHN MCMURRY SON OF
JESSE NEOLIN.I REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE FROM THE SUMMER I SPENT IN LAWTONOKLAHOMA IN 1957.

YOU CAN CONTACT ME AT AREA CODE (censored
:). I AM SORRY I DIDNOT ANSWER SOONER BUT HAVE NOT BEEN ON JUNO. JME-MAIL ADDRESS.

I kept reading it over and over with chills
going up and down my body. Thishad to be a prank I
thought but only he would know about the summer of 57which
I just my self found out about by my older half sister, whom hethought I was, except that she would not have been his half
sister butanyway. I called the number at 11:30 at
night and talked to his daughter,my new niece, and
learned he was at the movies with his wife and that shewould
have him call me back.

Of course he did with in 30 minutes and atthat moment, my search was over and the circle complete.
I still do notthink it has soaked in yet but I know it
will. He and I talked for hoursthat night and then
again on Sunday. I think he, like I, called back to seeif
it was real or just a dream. Later, we were able through my
greatgrandfather to link our lineage to a Glenn McMurry
who helped metremendously.

He was as shocked as I was as was evident
from his email backto me telling me to go back to his web
site and look again now. Turns outthat our great
times four grandfather John McMurry SR. had ten children.Glenn came off one brother and I and my family another.
Mine stopped at mygrandfather with no other info
found. Boy were we able to fill in thatlittle
branch of the family tree!!!! I would never have believed
all this.

We all keep sharing stories and pictures and
tapes and giving each other oneChristmas after another
until we have our HUGE family reunion sometimearound the
first of next year when we get new vacation days. We all
arehappy and still pinching ourselves. People kept
and still do ask me why Istarted this search and I would
tell them then as I still do now. At firstI did not
know why but then I kept hearing a little voice telling me when Iwould say I only had one brother or one uncle that "oh
yes, Sandra, you havea whole other side of family you
have never met or gotten to know."

After, one too many times of hearing that
voice it was inevitable and thesearch was on.

I hope this helps some of you that are
looking not to give up. If you hit adead end one way.
Back track and try another path. I know my search endedquicker than others but I will always believe that God knew
when the timewould be right and then and only then would
it happen. We use to ask eachother why all these
wasted years. But the answer came to us always atthe same
time. God did not think the time was right. It may not haveworked at any other time.

Just hang in there. Let others help if they
canand heed their opinions and suggestions.
Sometimes we are too close to thetree (no pun intended)
to see things clearly as others can. One last tidbit
of advice that I am glad I gave myself before making each phone
call orreading each email. Ask yourself the
question that if this leads into aanswer I do not think I
can bear or a rejection or what is the worst casescenario
that could come from this search, such as rude rejection, denial,those often unexpected kicks in the teeth, then remember that
if you feelyou cannot handle the bad that could possibly
come from this find or searchit may be best to put it on
hold for awhile.

I knew that I may possibly getrejected
and was prepared for this too although I only got kind and warmwords and welcomes from everyone I contacted. GOOD LUCK
TO YOU ALL...

Success StorySharon McAllisterThe Oklahoma GenWeb site and the other pages that I've found
through thisproject have led me to many valued
connections -- but this is my favoritestory:

I sent the obituary of my GGgrandfather,
Andrew Francis Milligan, to Sharon
Burnett CrawfordforOKObits. Soon after
she posted it her aunt,Margie Etter, was checking out
Sharon's site. Margie recognized his name,wrote to
me, and helped me solve some major mysteries regarding that
branchof the family.

So it turns out that Sharon and I are fifth
half-cousins, but neither of usknew it. Is
that the theme from the Twilight Zone I hear rising in thebackground?

I would like to relate a success story and a
great big THANKS toLindaGarrison inWalters,
OK (Cotton County). I had been looking for
informationon my Grandfather, George Washington BRISCOE
who had come up with myGrandmother from Texas in
the late 1800's or early 1900's to southern OK.I knew
their children's names and birth dates, and most of their birthplaces, but had hit a dead end on the two Grandparents.

I looked throughGenWeb into Cotton
County and several other area counties and querried inhopes
of finding something. Linda Garrison came forward with
informationshe had that not only confirmed my
Grandparents being in Cotton County butthe names of
George Washington's parents, grandparents, and siblings. Thiswas what I was looking for. She offered to supply me with
other informationshe has access to on these folks, and I
look forward to getting it.

Ofcourse, with the new information,
it now means more searching and looking,but that is the
nature of the endeavor.

Been out of town for a couple of weeks, but
did want to let you know of mysucess stories!

I posted my mother's mother's maiden name,
QUILLEN, to the Ellis County, OKquery page. It
didn't take long to get 2 replies about the name.

One researcher was looking for my great
uncle, Claude (Dutch) Quillen. Herrelative had
married him. I was able to give her what I had and how weconnected.

Then the next researcher was looking for my
great aunt, Grace Quillen, whomarried a Byers. I
was able to give her some information, but not nearlyenough.
She did help me, in answering questions as to why my g aunt hadremarried. Mr. Byers had died at a young age and left
Grace with severalsmall children.

This type of geneology searching is GREAT
and does work! Thanks for all yourhard work!

At the start of 1995, I decided to
search for my biological father. I didnot know much
about him. I had never met him and my mother lost contact
withhim while pregnant with me. I knew his name was
Jerry Wright, that he hadserved in the Navy and had been
stationed at Moffett Field in Californiabetween the end
of 1956 and September of 1957, he was born in the 1930's, hewas
tall with brown hair and he was from Oklahoma.

With this information, Iwent to the
public library and through their address finder, made a printoutof every Jerry Wright that I could find in the USA. This
was before I used acomputer so I sent a postcard to every
name one state at a time. I got a fewresponses but
not from the right man or anyone that knew him. During thistime I also contacted my local Veteran's office to see if they
could help butwithout a service or social security number
there was nothing that they coulddo.

By the time I was almost through sending all
the postcards, (it took awhile since postage had to be
done as I could afford it) I had computeraccess.
I looked up e-mail address' for all the Jerry Wright's again and
sentthem all an e-mail. Again, responses, but none
positive. That is when Ifound the Oklahoma Query
page. I posted my search on the page and I got aresponse
from Yvonne James Henderson who said that he sounded a lot like
oneof her cousins that had died.

From there, I was able to go on the internet
tothe Social Security Death Index and look him up and
sure enough, he was fromOklahoma! That took care of
the right part of the country. He had died but Idecided
that I wanted to find his family. I called the Veteren's
office againwith his social security number and told them
I wanted some information abouthim.

They gave me his service number and sent me
all the information thatthey had about him and told me to
write the Veteran's office in St.Louis, MOand they could
send me all that they had also. I got his wife's name
throughthis paperwork and found out that he was tall with
brown hair and had beenborn in 1936. I contacted
Yvonne again and she tried to find out what shecould from
her family. Finally, I got more military paperwork from St.
Louis.

From this, I found out that he had
been stationed at Moffett Field in theright time
frame. Everything matched. I sent Yvonne copies of
these papers.She contacted a relative that asked his
mother about this. His mother said Iwas impossible because Jerry had been sterile. I thought
how could this be?

From Yvonne I found out his brother's
names. Maybe he had told one of themabout a girl he
met in the service. So, here is the mass e-mail again to
hisbrother's and his wife's name. Again, responses,
none positive. I wrote toMoffett Field and asked
about his unit and they sent me a copy of a story fromthe
newspaper at the time. It was a new unit to Moffett Field and it
had thenames of the men in it but his was not there, but
his paperwork said he was.

I e-mailed to all of the names that I could
find from the list of men in hisunit. No Luck
again. From Yvonne, I found out that the woman he had
marriedhad children and that he had none of his own
biologically but she did not knowtheir names. I had
the name and address of the funeral home that interredhim,
so I wrote to them and asked for a copy of his obituary.

When this came,I had the names of
his children and where they had lived in 1985. I knew itwas a long shot that they would still be living in the same
city now in 1998,but I looked them up anyway. I
found an address for what I hoped was hisdaughter and
sure enough, I found her!! I found my family!!! If it
had notbeen for the Oklahoma Query page and my post to it
and Yvonne reading it, Idon't know if this would
have happened.

Thank you Yvonne, for having the pageand
for helping me find my family, cousin!!

I have been in contact with the most
knowledgable, sincere and capablepeople on the OK GENWEB. I have gone from
knowing very little about OKin
general, to finding family I never know my husband had. I must
thankSusie Williams, who
does Garvin CO lookups, Don White and Julia Embree(who just happened to find me through the OK
GenWeb -Julia is Librarianat
one of the Garvin Co. local libraries), and Liz Brewer at theChickasaw Nation. Without them, I would
still be at dead ends. Manythanks
to your project.

I am writing this to let you and other know
that the USGenWeb does work. I have been able to get a long way
down the road to find my ancestries. I am in the process of
trying to get a book started On the Dupont's in around McAlester,
OK. I have found that my great grandfather settled near there, in
a place called Perryville. I believe it was a railroad stop. I
have found on an old map of the Indian Nation. It is no longer a
town or village. But I have found a Perryville Creek, just south
of McAlester.

( http://www.usgenweb.org/statelinks.html
) This has been a great help and There is a person that I would
also like to reaction. That is Marti Graham. marti@myfamily.org She
has been a great help and still does. Keep up the good work.
Because it gives me great pleasure when I am able to find a new
member of our family.